"We're half way there..."

Super-mike, Coach K and A-Man just hanging out March 2.
A closer shot of the fun times.
Super-model D and SDJ show their mother/daughter smiles. So cute!
Coach K, A-Man and Hoonka (with baby #2 in there unbeknownst to everyone!)
The fabulous Kelly girls! (Well, technically, I'm a Grady - and proud of it!)

I currently have a 19 month old running around unsupervised upstairs. Terrified he's going to "take a digger" down the staircase. More than likely, he is going to turn on the water in our master bath tub and ruin the laundry I have stashed in there.

More pics of Portland. Such a good time. I still haven't had time to upload these photos onto snapfish.com, but I will do it by next Wednesday. The Mother/Daughter retreat is now finished, so the speaker and her husband have gone home (after a really wonderful trip) and we have Wayne and E arriving from So Cal at 4pm today. (Side-note: Buck had ravioli for lunch and got it all over his shirt, which he is now dragging down the stairs as he comes down "feet first" on his belly - amazing ability to make a mess). RKZ, Buck and I are having a great time entertaining. We're just hoping we can keep up the pace as SO MANY PEOPLE will probably be calling to come visit, right? :)
...right?!

"We're playing basket -ball..."

March 1st - Portland, Oregon:
My family all met up in Portland this year for the WAC (I think) basketball regional finals. It's one of the tournaments before the NCAA sweet 16. The winner (Gonzaga) went to the big tourney. Neither of my brothers, Coach K or Coach K2 coach Gonzaga, so it had a few moments of dissapointment for us -- but we had each other adn it was a great visit! The next few days will have posts of this family adventure while the current week in Calgary is very busy! (All of these photos will be on snapfish for those interested)
Here is a second shot of Gma J, Buck, SDJ, Pa Joad and RKZ during 1/2 time. Coach K's teams was the "guest" so it was a close game.
Back at Hoonka and Coach K's, Buck and A-man (Buck's younger cousin) played ball in the bathtub.
Buck and his basketball.
A-man enjoying playing. More tomorrow!

A nice song from the 80's. Sing it if you know it!

"Rise and shine..."

No pics today - can you believe? It's just taken me a long time to download my most recent pictures into the computer. Sorry about that. Also, sorry to family who is waiting for me to send them some pictures. Been a little crazy around here.

Just to keep the world up to date - all is done here. We are back to 'pre-pregnancy' status. This includes me not feeling incredibly sick, so now I have no excuse to avoid the laundry. We are all excited around here to welcome soem good friends who are coming to stay this week. Bon-Bon is coming to speak to the mother/daughter retreat I am helping to organize on Thursday. It should go well (I think. I've been a bit out of the planning of late). On Saturday, we welcome Wayne/Theo and E, the only friends who came to visit us in Toronto -- we are incredibly excited to see our dear friends (now I'm 80 and use the word "dear").

Well - Buck is demanding to read a book. I will get some pictures for tomorrow.

"We all did our best now, leave it alone..."

Buck eating yogurt using a play spatula from his new kitchen set.
"Ahhhh!"
This pasta is yummy! All food pictures today - Buck looking much older to me. Can you tell it's easiest to take pictures of him when he's tied into his chair?

OK, I think many of you have heard some or all of what's been going on with us. I am adding the story "in a nutshell" below just in case. We are fine now. Life is the way it is, after all.

The Deal With Us - same info at the email I sent out:
About 8 weeks ago, RKZ and I found out we were pregnant with baby #2. I had a little bit of strange "spotting" (not blood...hard to explain) last Thursday; I went in for a check and the doctor sent me for an ultrasound. They couldn't hear a heartbeat for the baby and I was sent to the blood collection place for hormone tests. The baby measured 6 weeks and only 50% of fetal heartbeats can be seen at this point, so our doctor wasn't hopeful, but also wasn't hopeless. The doctor measured my HCG (pregnancy hormone) levels as these are supposed to double every 36 hours. I had been very "pregnancy sick" up to this point & had no miscarriage symptoms.

By Sunday (last week), I was no longer feeling that same sickness and RKZ and I weren't surprised when the HCG test came back Friday that my HCG level went from very high 88,0000 to much lower 64,000. This is a second sign that the baby is gone. Unfortunately (in a way), I have still had no signs of my body naturally miscarrying. We are scheduling an appointment with a fertility specialist this week (she is our GPs wife) so that she can help us with the next step of what to do. Also, she will most likely be able to tell us if my recurrent fibroids have something to do with this. More than likely, we will need a doctor's intervention to complete the miscarriage (I hope that makes sense, it's the only way I can put it delicately). Thankfully, there is a procedure which is not surgical (not a D&C) which has been recommended to us (the surgical procedure could be risky also due to my fibroids). Also, we will have a final ultrasound before we do anything -- just in case.

RKZ and I are both very peaceful about all of this. We know that it happens to 1/3 of the women who become pregnant and that it is sad, but ok. I know that many of the people who are reading this have experienced this also and have gone on to have more children, so it's really just the living through it that seems like so much drama. Thanks for your prayers and good thoughts and wishes. If we haven't given up after 7 years of trying (and one victory), we're not stopping now :) Also, we believe that God's will leads us to the best place - wherever that is.

I will put in updates as everything progresses. Nothing new yet.

"The sign said 'Long-haired freaky people, will be shot on sight'"

So this is what our lives have come to -- taking a 19 month old into the "Beamers" to get his first haircut. Buck chose the yellow jeep for his first time - and his attitude is basically conveyed in this shot - he was having none of it.
"What're you trying to do with that thing, lady?"
Buck was all over the place avoiding "the knife." At this bottom of this photo, RKZ tries to bribe Buck with some marbles or food or something. I just think Buck wanted to see what was happening behind his back!
"Mama! Help!" Ahh, the price of beauty.

Buck's baby hair is gone. Now, if his baby fat would just leave my body, we'd be set :)!!

A lot and nothing happened today, but that won't make sense to anyone reading this. This blog is turning into a modern type of "Sabine & Griffen" or "Griffen and Sabine"...or maybe his name wasn't Griffen, but I really liked those books anyway.

more tomorrow - or Monday. Tomorrow we have a big day at the zoo and then a St. Patrick's Day bash somewhere :)

"Ain't no mountain high enough..."

Charlie tackling Buck in our rec center. They have gotten into a habit of pushing each other out of the way and then pushing each other down. Ahhh, the joys of raising boys.
This is a rather boring shot of the drive into our neighborhood (Discovery Ridge). This was before the snow melted all away (and then came back again over the last few days).
The view from our mailbox. I find that in Calgary, most of the mailboxes are centralized in one place. We all have post-office-box like mailboxes that we can drive or walk to. At least the view is nice. It will be nicer in the summer :)

Grandma Joad is here for a few days - maybe a few weeks - and we have been having a great time hitting the shops and eating out (which my mom friends and I can rarely do). Buck has been having a great time with his very own playmate. Poor Grandma, she has been dancing, and pushing and singing and clapping her poor body into oblivion. Mom says that Buck is more fun as he gets older. I find that his "point and demand" actions are a lot more work. I'm sure this will be closely followed by just "demanding" what he wants. Joy.

I am enjoying the breaks these days while Grandma plays. Doctor's appointment tomorrow and then I will be able to email/post the results of our crazy & a little bit sad, week.

"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood"

Buck during the last big snowfall (or 2nd to last). It snowed for nearly 8 days straight. Today it has only snowed for 8 hours straight. This snowsuit is a new friend's hand-me-down.
We had a "Flat Hannah" come to stay with us - if you aren't familiar, "Flat Stanley" is a flat little boy who mailed himself all over the world and has books of his adventures. Many school kids in the US also do this as class projects. We had a great time with "Flat Hannah". RKZ is representing with his new Bronco toque (sp?) - Canadian for hat.
"Flat Hannah" at the top of the Canada Olympic ski jump. An awesome view. She was scared.
A friendly bobsledder posed for a picture with "Flat Hannah". For around $500.00 (I think), you can be a bobsledder for a day as well (we just got the picture).
A view of the North West of Calgary. Downtown is out of the picture to the right. We have a nice downtown sky line, I think. This is just the view from the Ski jump again - but not looking down :)

We've had a few people email asking about what's going on here in Calgary lately - please feel free to email if you have questions about our cryptic "situation." We are all fine, but it's too complicated and as yet unresolved to add to the blog just yet. RKZ is not leaving me for a Kokanee beer girl. I am not deserting the family for WARM California (don't think it's not tempting, though) and no one we love has been lost in the fires in same So Cal. Buck has decided that he rules the world, though, in case anyone was wondering. He also constantly demands to see more "buthes (buses)"; "ditters (diggers)"; and "wa - wa (the car wash - also could be water, but usually he just wants to go through the car wash again)."

We're very excited by Grandma Joad coming up today (on route now) and that my friend, Inukshuk, from Toronto had her new baby boy, Axel (that is his real name & I like it). Also, Grandma Jody (who gets to keep her real name by virtue of being the coolest) turned 89 yesterday. Let's hear it for those Shaw women's genes!! A beer and a cig a day and she's still going strong!!

More tomorrow.

"Baby love - my baby love"

Clemmie and Buck laughing at the zoo.
laughing #2
"Hey, Clem, what do you say we hold hands?"
"OK!"

Things are a bit tense here at the moment. Some serious stuff going on that I'll talk about in a later post. I am going to use some pictures that have been waiting in the wings for a few days.

These are some pictures of a recent trip to the zoo for Buck and Clemmie. They have discovered the joy of holding hands. It makes both them and all of us laugh. It's really cute actually. It has gotten warmer here - 62 F/ 17 C yesterday and should be about that today. Flip-flop weather.

If you're reading this and you pray - please send one up for our vague need today. Thanks.

"Taking the long way around"

Buck giving Elmo a ride on his Diego scooter
More rides for Elmo (please ignore laundry)

I have been running around like a crazy person - so I haven't had a lot of time to post. More family photos SOON, I promise. It's a GLORIOUS 48 degrees F here...so we've been enjoying the outside. Tomorrow, we're off to the zoo again - can't wait.

Not too much else to report. Miss you -- whoever is reading this.

"We are family..."

Carter & his Valentine's toy from Gma Duchess.
Little O'Doyle and Rye-Rye celebrating St. Patrick's early (really early).
Carter and Brady hiding from the flash of the camera.
Paigie the ballerina-girl :) So cute!
The Duchess and Paige.
Brady shows off his V-day gift.

OK, now that RKZ, Buck and I have gone on - not one- but TWO family trips and I have not posted any pictures, I have decided to get on the ball and get some actual "up-to-date" info into this blog - mostly for JPEG (my nickname for my neice's mom-who doubles as our stalker - ha!) These won't be Portland photos, but at least they're new!

This pics are from our trip to Colorado two weekends back. We went to celebrate Grandpa Duke's retirement (and sort of, Grandma Duchess' birthday). They are in Mexico now, so I'm thinking that they didn't need a celebration if they have the good fortune to be warm in these days! Regardless, we had a great visit in Colorado - even if I forbid anyone reading this to fly united airlines ever again if you have the choice. Due to a "technical difficulty" - well, a flight attendant fell and broke her arm (which I find sad and was sad for her, but...) it took them SIX HOURS to find a new attendant - yes - 6!! - and we had to sit and wait in the airport with our 1 1/2 year old because our luggage was already on the plane and we couldn't leave security without taking our bags. I blame this on the terrorists - oh, and United Airlines.

That was the bad part of our trip - but it really did just get better from there. It was so fun to hang out with HAB and Marky-Mark and Little O'Doyle and cousin Rye-Rye (and by Rye, I do mean whisky! There was such a morning stench in that house!) Buck had an amazing time with his cousins. I felt badly since I couldn't help with party prep much (more on that in Wednesday's post), but the party was a huge hit and the food was awesome! We can't wait to get back to CO soon - and the big news is that the Bussones might be making a trip to the great white north (it will be green again by then). We're keeping our touqes crossed!